Asheville NOW launches monthly ‘Power Hour’ with April 8 film screening

The Asheville chapter of NOW is sponsoring monthly “Power Hour” gatherings that offer opportunities for women to gather, learn, discuss and network. The inaugural gathering on Wednesday, April 8, includes a screening of an hour-long documentary about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire in which 123 women died.

The gathering will be held at Avenue M on Merrimon Avenue and starts at 6 p.m. The screening will be followed by a talk by Cynthia Drew, author of City of Fire. 

Here’s more info from Asheville NOW:

Asheville NOW launches monthly “Power Hour” with film screening

ASHEVILLE – On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers — 123 of them women – died in the largest industrial disaster in the history of New York and one of the worst in US history, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.

Like most of the textile industry at the turn of the last century, the majority of workers were young immigrant women, toiling nine hours a day during the week, plus seven hours on Saturdays, earning about $166 to $286 per week in today’s dollars.

With few safety regulations in place, most textile factories were tinderboxes, and doors were locked to keep workers inside and prevent theft.

When fire broke out late in the afternoon, most of the workers had no way to escape as the flames, fed by lint, dust, fabric and the wooden floors, consumed the building. The factory occupied the eighth to 10th floors of the building, making escape through windows impossible.

The disaster resulted in changes in the nation’s labor laws, many of which affected the booming textile industry in North Carolina.

The Asheville Chapter of the National Organization of Women presents an hour-long documentary on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which aired originally as an episode of “American Experience” on PBS. The film is followed by a talk from Cynthia Drew, author of “City of Fire.”

The event is the launch of Asheville NOW’s monthly Women’s Power Hour gatherings, which will offer opportunities for women to gather, learn, discuss and network.

“We’re revisiting long work hours and low wages today,” said Sherri McLendon, president of the Asheville Chapter of the National Organization of Women. “The film is pertinent to what’s happening with labor today, and especially with women’s labor.”

During this economic recovery, the high-paying jobs lost have been replaced largely with low-wage jobs, according to the NC Budget and Tax Center, and the NC General Assembly’s current policies are making low-wage workers’ lot even worse.